Part autobiography, part family memoir and part sickeningly cute, Craig Barnes' new novel "Growing Up True" celebrates the value of family in rural Colorado in the years after World War II. Or rather, it makes an effort to celebrate.
For the most part, "Growing Up True" deals with mundane everyday things in a boy's life. Farm life, family life and school life make up the young Craig Barnes' existence in his years in Littleton, Colo., and these are the topics of the 23 chapters in the 200 page book. It's sort of like a bunch episodes of "Malcolm in the Middle" jammed together without the show's humor and with the addition of a farm and some animals.
And then there is the gloomy, predictable loss of innocence deal. There is a suicide in the narrator's "kingdom," an area that he has declared his haven from real life. Consequently, he goes into a dark depression stage, complete with loss of ambition and compassion, and only recovers when his father, Don, has a fairly traditional "it's the way of life and death, son" talk with him one night at the foot of his bed. While the father and the father-son relationship are far from ordinary, they are presented in a very ordinary manner. The story written by Barnes has been written a thousand times before, some even with a similar rural setting. Boy is in state of wonder at world around him, boy gets beat up by brothers and runs wild in the fields with best friend dog, boy idolizes father, boy loses innocence. It is painfully clichÇ.
While Barnes fails at creating a unique, engaging story, he does succeed in casting it with a delightful group of characters. Barnes' parents and brothers make up all of the important characters, which further establish "Growing Up True" as a memoir of loved ones as well as an autobiography. Don and Thedia are the epitome of strong, nurturing parents, patiently overseeing the family and raising three hardworking boys.
Don, as the soft-spoken, intelligent engineer who runs the Barnes family, is often the focus of the narrator's affection and idolatry. It is with his departure to WWII that the book begins and with his simple words that the book ends.
But more compelling is the warmhearted woman who holds the family together when he is away, and who rejoices at the natural beauty of Colorado's fields, trees and mountains - what she calls "natural gold." The narrator's mother, Thedia, is the most admirable character in the book.
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The family overall comes across as one of those old-fashioned families with rural charm and values, where the mother stays home to cook hamburgers, the father goes into town to work and the children raise chickens and horses and run amuck whenever possible. The plot runs smoothly, but with virtually no excitement. There is the annual State Fair, where the narrator's chickens are honored and his brother's horse is the underdog winner of the big race. Various big projects take up a chapter or two, such as the building of a log barn and the narrator's schoolboy crushes. But how many cute anecdotes about farm life can a reader take before it gets old? Barnes pushes the limit, and were it not for his likable characters, readers would just stop caring.
Furthermore, there does not seem to be a climax and the ending is abrupt and not satisfying. The postlude follows the characters up to the present day, giving short summaries of what each one accomplished and where each one is now living. Barnes states his purpose for writing the book - his mother asked him to "write something someday" after Don's death, meaning of course that he write this something about the family and about Don. Barnes then reminds us of his accomplishments over the years - which, granted, are impressive; he's been an essayist, playwright, newspaper columnist, National Public Radio commentator, teacher, lawyer, politician, international negotiator, horse trainer, and of course, rancher - as if to say, "Look at me! Look at me! I made it, my background worked, I turned out alright!"
"Growing Up True" turned out alright, too. It just did not turn out spectacular.
